LAHORE – Documents related to companies like Saaf Paani and Punjab Power are feared to have gone up in flames in a massive blaze at a high rise on Saturday.
A man was confirmed dead after jumping out of the five-storey building at Lahore’s MM Alam Road, an elite shopping hub, in a desperate attempt to escape fire.
Punjab Information Minister Fiazul Hassan Chohan said the plaza is owned by Imran Ali Yousaf, the son-in-law of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/fire-erupts-on-lahores-mm-alam-road/
Ali, who was declared a proclaimed absconder on the request of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last month, is accused of receiving graft in excess of Rs12 million from Ikram Naveed, the former CEO of the Punjab Power Development Company (PPDC), and is the subject of a NAB probe.
The office of Ali Trading Company, which was dealing with these companies, is located on the same floor which caught fire on Saturday.
He had appeared before NAB investigators in April but has since missed his scheduled hearings and left the country for London.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/shehbaz-sharifs-son-in-law-declared-absconder-in-punjab-power-company-corruption-case/
The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had already carried out a probe against Naveed and Yousaf in 2016. It declared Naveed guilty of embezzling Rs450 million.
The ACE in its investigation found that Naveed had purchased 19 properties in his and his family members’ names and also unearthed his and his family members property worth over Rs1 billion. The property has been attached and their bank accounts frozen.
Earlier this year a Punjab Cooperative Bank building where the records of Ashiana and Paragon housing schemes were stored, caught fire. The records of these housing schemes as well as a number of others were on the sixth floor of the building and the fire managed to engulf the whole floor.
The cases of the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme and Paragon Housing Scheme are also being investigated by NAB.
